nwebb

[I own shares in Apple, a MBP, an iPhone, a PC and I'm a Flash platform developer]

Is the iPad for Me? Most certainly not (no USB, no SDcard, no multitasking, no Flash, no camara,  yet another data plan. Meh.)

Is the iPad for my mum?  Nope. “Mother Webb” already has a laptop and she already has an established web-experience which involves Skype, iPlayer, various Flash-based video sites. She even runs Firefox and nod32 for goodness sake.

Is the iPad for someone too scared or baffled to buy a computer?

• Closed platform (closed  = control = stability) which is what you want for that target audience.  I simply don’t buy in to the “Apple are supporting the open-web by banning proprietary software” hype. Can you install Firefox, Chrome or another browser of your choice on the iPad?  (http://bit.ly/aaysEp)
• No Flash = no full web experience. Well, if you’ve never had it you probably don’t know what you’re missing. Yes, you won’t have a full web experience as we know it, but if you’re someone too scared to buy a computer then you’ll just be happy that your overall experience is stable. You will probably want to access the mainstream sites like iPlayer and YouTube … but there will be apps for those.
• No multitasking – simple is good for you and you won’t be familiar with it anyway.
• No camera – to me this is the big mistake. This market will be very likely to want a device which allows them to video-chat with relatives … but it looks like the OS has support for it. Maybe version 2.
• You may have to pay for normally-free legal content eg “Instead of being able to watch the Daily Show & Colbert Report free with ads, my only option is to buy them on iTunes“ http://9to5mac.com/flash-on-iPad-23445456 - but again, if I’m right then we’re talking about a market that is not experienced with the web. They may almost need to be spoonfed for a while. What better than giving them a central place to get what they want? They’ll be happy to pay – partly because they won’t even realise they can get it for free.

I can see many, many arguments against what Apple have done, but I also see some arguments for it – don’t be fooled, I’m responsible for arguing the other side of the coin (ie against what the iPad represents) on various email discussion lists and blogs right now.

But also, let’s make no mistake, “people too scared/confused to buy a computer” represent a huge untapped market. I think this device, as-is, may almost be perfect for them. It is not perfect for me, so I won’t buy it. As simple as that. I’m not sure I want it to be successful for a variety of reasons, but I’m quite sure it will be. The travesty for me is that it could have been very suited to me. I feel cheated out of a new toy! The iPad is like fisher-price computing.

Apple, the techie in me feels very (VERY) uncomfortable with your closed platform, and I believe there are many valid arguments against what you’ve done, but I think I understand who you’re aiming at.